After meeting Captain Brown Bear, Yako was still assigned to the Blue Wolf Squadron.
The squad changed into Cloud Ninja gear, preparing to openly steal the Uzumaki sealing scrolls.
This time, Yako felt much more grounded and less anxious. He now had an inside connection, after all.
Captain Seiro was ruthless, hounding Yako to use his shadow clones to infiltrate the small town for reconnaissance.
Yako's chakra reserves had doubled, but he feigned complaints about lacking enough chakra.
He also gave a covert command to his clone, telling it to lure the Whirlpool ninjas in this direction as quickly as possible.
The memories transmitted back from his shadow clone revealed that Uzumaki Yuka had already entered the town.
After he deployed two shadow clones, the Whirlpool ninjas came charging over.
With plenty of chakra to spare, Yako felt completely at ease.
Seven Whirlpool ninjas charged their position.Uzumaki Yuka spotted Fox immediately. After their recent intimacy, she was intimately familiar with his physique.
'Fox must have been dispatched by the Anbu to infiltrate the Cloud Ninjas as a spy.'
The skirmish between the two sides instantly turned white-hot.
Yuka took the initiative to target Fox, and the two fought their way farther from the main clash.
Some blind fool of a Whirlpool ninja insisted on coming over to back Yuka up.
Yako ended up taking a kunai to the thigh anyway. Under Yuka's cover, he seized an opening and slipped away using the Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique.
The male Whirlpool ninja landed beside Yuka and sighed with regret. "This Cloud Ninja actually knows an Earth Release escape technique. He won't be easy to track."
Yuka nodded, though her heart ached with worry for Fox. He had a kunai lodged in his leg, and she had no idea if it would hinder his movement underground.
Using the entry-level Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique with his current chakra reserves, Yako could only tunnel just over thirty meters.
He tunneled to a blind spot on the Whirlpool ninjas' flank before surfacing. He didn't make any rash movements, opting to lie prone in the bushes and wait patiently.
The battle concluded, and the sound of receding leaps echoed in the distance. Only after the Uzumaki clan ninjas were gone did Yako use the Underground Projection Fish Technique again, vanishing from sight.
Once completely safe, he carefully tended to the kunai wound in his thigh.
Blood had soaked the fabric around the blade. The clothes Yuka had just washed were dirty once more.
He hunkered down in the crevices of a reef, finishing off his last military ration pills without daring to wander.
The full moon hung like a silver plate, casting moonlight like pale frost over the shore.
It wasn't until the moonlight spilled into his hiding spot that Yako finally stepped out from the reef.
Entirely out of military ration pills and starving to death, Yako snuck into a fishing village and stole some food.
He wolfed down salted fish and cold leftovers like a starved beast.
Once full, Yako made a plan: he would wait fifteen days before seeking out the main Anbu forces.
The closer it got to the next full moon, the safer he would be.
Over these fifteen days, he intended to diligently practice his ninjutsu and taijutsu to boost his strength as fast as possible.
First on the list was his hand-seal speed.
If he had executed his jutsu just a bit faster, his thigh would never have caught that stray kunai; he would have been safely underground.
Both the Underground Projection Fish Technique and the Self-Cursing Binding Seal required three hand seals.
Uchiha Itachi could weave six seals in one second. It took Yako a second and a half just to weave three. That rate was simply too slow.
He needed to develop muscle memory to push his weaving speed to three seals per second.
Practicing hand seals wasn't merely about hand speed; it had to be synchronized with the mobilization of internal chakra. Only when the two worked in perfect concert could a ninjutsu be cast.
While practicing, Yako felt his hands were incredibly stiff. Other prodigies had pianist hands; he had plaster hands.
He spent five days drilling his seals until his hands cramped. At last, he achieved some minor success, substantially improving his speed until he hit three seals a second.
Next came the grueling, monotonous strength and speed training.
With the system's assistance and his own earnest dedication, the two worked perfectly together toward a common goal.
Pity the nearby fishing villages, which lost plenty of salted fish and leftover rice.
A new month arrived. With fifteen days remaining until the full moon, Yako began to search for Anbu markers.
Somewhere along the coast, Yako successfully located Captain Brown Bear.
The captain was guarding the shoreline to prevent any Whirlpool ninjas from fleeing across the sea back to the Land of Whirlpools.
The Konoha Anbu were absolutely determined to seize the Uzumaki Sealing Jutsu.
There were plenty of other Anbu captains just like him deployed across the region. Any Whirlpool ninja who set foot in the Land of Waves would likely die here.
With squad captains and battalion commanders locking down the coast, Uzushiogakure wouldn't even know what had transpired.
Yako delivered a full report on the Blue Wolf Squadron's encounter to Captain Brown Bear.
"Those Whirlpool ninjas you mentioned... other Anbu operatives have also run into them over the past few days. Their strength is undeniable."
Captain Brown Bear glanced at Fox's leg. The torn fabric and crusted bloodstains confirmed the wound was indeed a half-month old.
Captain Brown Bear thought for a moment, then spoke:
"Fox. Real name: Yako.
"Your parents moved to the village in Konoha Year 18, after the First Great Ninja War ended.
"You were born in the village in Konoha Year 23. Five years later, your parents were killed during a rebellion by rogue ninjas.
"Graduated from the ninja academy in Konoha Year 33. In Year 38—this year—you passed a lowered-difficulty Chunin Exam and were selected by the Anbu.
"Your background is spotless. Though your strength is a bit lacking, you've adapted to Anbu missions well enough, and you even learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Antelope.
"Follow me, Fox.
"In a few days, I'll assign one or two Anbu ninjas under you. You'll serve as an acting squad captain.
"If you can successfully complete a few missions, I'll officially appoint you as a full squad captain."
Yako hastily bowed his head. "Thank you, Captain!"
The promotion itself didn't matter. The real prize was that becoming a captain meant receiving orders directly, allowing him to access vital intelligence.
For five consecutive days, Yako shadowed Captain Brown Bear, tasked with leaving Anbu cipher marks in the vicinity.
During that time, two Whirlpool ninjas attempted to breach the blockade and flee the main island of the Land of Waves.
Captain Brown Bear dispatched them effortlessly.
The gap in their strength was so massive that the captain only used taijutsu, not even bothering with ninjutsu.
After searching the corpses, they found no sealing scrolls.
Yako felt a restless itch in his heart.
If he wasn't dead by the fourteenth of this month, he'd go ahead and take out Captain Brown Bear. Who knew what kind of incredible rewards he might loot.
He only dared to entertain these thoughts while staring at the ground. If he looked at the captain with murder on his mind, he was terrified the man would just ram a kunai into him.
"Captain, aren't we afraid of Uzushiogakure holding Konoha accountable?"
"Of course not." Captain Brown Bear cast a sweeping glance at Fox.
"I know you're Konoha Anbu, but how would these Whirlpool ninjas know who you are?
"Even if they grasp a shred of evidence, the village can entirely brush it off as the Hidden Mist Village trying to frame us.
"Konoha and Uzushiogakure are allies. Why would we slaughter our own allies?
"Furthermore, don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
"My apologies, Captain. I overthought it."
The Anbu handled the village's dirty, grueling work. Unless one died or received Danzo's explicit permission, no one could leave the organization.
Yako's ninja registration number was permanently sealed. According to the archives, he was already a Konoha ninja who had perished on some mission.
Slowly but surely, other Anbu operatives whose squads had been decimated came to find the captain.
Captain Brown Bear assigned a subordinate to Yako—an Anbu wearing a Matsudori mask.
The two formed a new squad, with Yako serving as the acting squad captain.
After sending Matsudori away, Captain Brown Bear handed down the squad's mission.
"Fox, the Land of Waves is currently a chaotic mess. Mist Ninjas, Cloud Ninjas, Whirlpool ninjas, and our Anbu are all mixed in.
"Go assassinate a noble mayor in the Land of Waves. He's a supporter of Uzushiogakure.
"Be careful of the noble's samurai and guardian ninjas."
Accepting the mission scroll, Yako replied, "Understood. I'll get it done."
The scroll contained ample intelligence regarding the noble mayor. Yako was finally no longer just a blunt instrument for executing tasks; he had begun to receive intel and possessed a degree of autonomy.